Blogging in the language classroom Doris Devilly German Department, NUIG 1

Why a Blog? Module on creative writing – why not collaborative writing? Training and support facilitated by CELT Enthusiastic response from students Pilot project – students and lecturer learn from each other – lone learner vs. team learner Blog as a source of information for other students of German 2

Aims and Objectives introduce students to the concept of writing blogs familiarize students with techniques and skills necessary to format, write, post and add to blogs encourage students to read German blogs written by fellow students, lecturers and other authors assist students to research German websites, podcasts, wikis and additional materials which can be used for the class blog encourage students to add regular posts to the blog 3

Aims and Objectives encourage teamwork and open discussion on the subject of validity of blogs, students’ own posts and other authors’ blogs support language learning through collaborative writing, peer review, analysis of lexical and grammatical difficulties, comparing own work with fellow students work complete a class blog which can be read by other students and the wider net community 4

Learning outcomes After this seminar students should be able to open a blog account and set up their personal blog use a variety of techniques and skills to manage a blog edit and post their own and other students blog entries add images, audio files, podcasts and websites to their blog write suitable blog entries in German read and analyze other authors’ blogs in German delegate responsibilities, manage sub-groups and work within a team present their blog to a peer group and the lecturer 5

The Blogging Team 4 th year Commerce/German 6

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Commerce/German Class Blog 8 com/

Pitfalls & Stumbling Blocks Digital Natives vs. Digital Alien Facilities, equipment and technical hiccups Organization and time management Encouragement and motivation Assessment 9

The sunny side….. (students’ feedback) surprised with their own achievement improved group dynamics increased self-confidence great sense of achievement practicing language skills whilst having fun sense of great accomplishment closer bond to peers and lecturer acquired additional skills 10

Room for improvement…..? Use blogging facilities in Blackboard Allocate more time for editorial and sub-group meetings Widen the group of peer reviewers Revise the assessment structure Organise an official launch of the class blog Use social networks like NING for managing groups and discussions 11

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Happy Blogging! 13